The Week That Was and The Hope That Is.

I know there have been other weeks in which the cumulative effect of the week's news left me with a feeling of sorrow as great as the sorrow that I am feeling today.  Yet, as I sit here on a Saturday morning reflecting on the week that has been, my heart is as heavy as I can remember it being.

This week saw the 100,000th death from COVID-19 in our country.  100,000, that is more than the capacity of Sanford Stadium.  100,000 is the approximate number of United Methodists that gather each week for worship in North Georgia.  In just a few short months, 100,000 of us dead.  

Perhaps the rate of death has peaked.  However, the thing about any virus is that it doesn't go away.  It is still lurking in the shadows waiting to rear its ugly head.  We can't drop a bomb on the virus and have it go away.  Maybe a vaccine and treatment will be forthcoming  but until then we are stalked by a silent killer.

Yet, our week was just getting starting.  We all saw the horrifying video of the death of a man named George Floyd in Minneapolis.  He was in police custody at the time.  We saw the knee of the police officer on his neck.  We heard his cries of "I can't breath." Floyd is African-American the officers where white.  

Before I go further I want to say something important.  All police officers cannot be held libel for the actions of these officers in Minnesota.  In any profession there are folks who handle their responsibilities the right way and there are a few that handle their responsibilities the wrong way.  What happened in Minnesota cannot be an indictment of all law enforcement.  The folks I know in the law enforcement community are good people and good at their jobs. They sit in the pews where I preach.  I have served with them in civic organizations.  They are in law enforcement because they want to serve.

What is obvious is that there is a dissonance in our society.  The world does not operate in the same way for my African-American brothers and sisters as it does for we who are white.  I could give examples and cite evidence and statistics but I don't need to do so.  In our hearts we know that it is true.

The Floyd incident has set off protests which in many cases have become violent.  Last evening, I set in front of my television watching the events unfold in the capital of my state, Atlanta.  I wanted to scream at the television and say, "You aren't helping things."  

Indeed, the rioters and the looters are only providing cover for those who want to dismiss what happened to George Floyd.  However, the rioting and looting do not make what happened to George Floyd any less wrong nor does it remove the stain of racism from our society.

The question that remains is, "How, as followers of Jesus Christ, do we respond to this week?"  Some would say we should just go on about our lives.  That might work psychologically but it doesn't work morally.   The reason it doesn't work morally, for me at least, is because I am baptized.  Please allow me to explain.

As a part of the baptismal covenant I made a pledge to "Resist evil, injustice and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves."  All United Methodists have made that pledge either at our baptism, our confirmation or when we renewed our baptismal covenant.  Those words have meaning.

Further, we  United Methodists, as a part of our church membership vows we promise to faithfully serve Christ and his church through our witness.  We believe that we are called to engage our world in the name of Christ.

So it is, at least for my tribe of Christianity, that we are called to actively take stands against the evil we see in the world.  We are to be vocal about what is wrong and join the struggle for what is right.  

We can't control everything that happens in the world.  What we can do is control what happens in our world.  We can control the type of person we happen to be.   Each of us can whatever opportunity we have to "resist evil, injustice and oppression."  

In these times I seek out hope.  The words in that classic hymn, "This is My Father's World" best describes the hope that shines like a beacon in these times of despair.  

This is my father's world
O let me ne'er forget
That thou the wrong seems oft so strong
God is the ruler yet.


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